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CBSE · Class 11 · Social Science

Environment and Sustainable Development

Standard difficulty · 20 questions · 40 marks · Time: 37 minutes

Name: Date: Score: ____ / 40

Write full answers in Sections B and C. Answers are on the last page — try every question first!

Section A — Choose the correct answer8 × 1 = 8 marks
1.
Birds, animals, plants and forests are the environment’s:
  1. non-renewable resources
  2. absorptive capacity
  3. abiotic elements
  4. biotic elements
2.
“A beautiful lake visited by tourists” shows that the environment:
  1. sustains life through biodiversity
  2. assimilates waste
  3. gives aesthetic services
  4. supplies resources
3.
What is the benefit of LPG in rural kitchens?
  1. makes electricity from wind without pollution
  2. lowers air pollution in cities
  3. replaces firewood and dung cakes with a clean fuel
  4. turn cattle dung into fuel, leaving slurry as fertiliser
4.
What is meant by “global warming”?
  1. a rise in the earth’s average temperature from greenhouse gases
  2. the ability of the environment to absorb degradation
  3. a resource that is not exhausted by use
  4. turning organic waste into compost
5.
Which of these is a renewable resource?
  1. natural gas
  2. coal
  3. solar energy
  4. petroleum
6.
A forest has 16,000 trees and regrows 7% of its stock each year. What is the most that can be cut each year without the forest shrinking?
  1. 1,120 trees
  2. 1,920 trees
  3. 14,880 trees
  4. 2,240 trees
7.
Carbon dioxide concentration has risen about 31% since 1750. If it was 2,600 units in 1750, about what is it now?
  1. 2,631 units
  2. 806 units
  3. 3,406 units
  4. 3,506 units
8.
A lake can absorb 3,700 tonnes of waste a year. Each factory on its bank releases 340 tonnes a year. How many factories can it support within its absorptive capacity?
  1. 10 factories
  2. 11 factories
  3. 13 factories
  4. 340 factories
Section B — Short answer8 × 2 = 16 marks
9.
What is the environment?
10.
Explain each term: (a) ozone depletion (b) sustainable development
11.
Is each resource renewable or non-renewable? (a) iron ore (b) bauxite
12.
How does each help sustainable development? (a) gobar gas plants (b) wind power
13.
Which came first, and by how many years? (a) villagers in Karnataka hugged trees in the Appiko movement (1983) (b) the Central Pollution Control Board was set up (1974)
14.
A forest of 190,000 trees regrows 10% a year, but 21,900 trees are cut each year. How many trees does it have after one year, and is this sustainable?
15.
A village fits 10 solar panels, each making 6 kWh of electricity a day. How much do they make in 90 days, and why is solar power good for remote villages?
16.
Each of 130 families burns 5 kg of firewood a day. If gobar gas replaces it, how much firewood is saved in a 30-day month and in a year of 365 days?
Section C — Longer answers4 × 4 = 16 marks
17.
Explain the four functions of the environment.
18.
Match each with its benefit: (a) biopest control (b) wind power (c) biocomposting. Choose from: uses neem, mixed cropping and natural predators against pests; makes electricity from wind without pollution; turns organic waste into compost, often with earthworms.
19.
A forest has 150,000 trees and regrows 10% of the starting stock each year. (a) What is the sustainable yearly cut? (b) If 27,300 trees are cut each year instead, how many are lost each year? (c) After 5 such years, how many trees are left (taking regrowth as fixed)? (d) Which rule of sustainable development is broken?
20.
(a) Put these in order, earliest first: the UN set its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (2015); the Sustainable Development Goals are to be met (2030); the Central Pollution Control Board was set up (1974). (b) How many years from the first to the last? (c) Explain why one of these matters for the environment.
AmbifulWorksheets
Practice that never repeats
CBSE · Class 11 · Social Science

Answer key

Environment and Sustainable Development · AW-11SS-EES-2026-V1 · For parents — fold back or tear off before handing the sheet to your child.

QAnswerWorking
1(d) biotic elements—
2(c) gives aesthetic services—
3(c) replaces firewood and dung cakes with a clean fuel—
4(a) a rise in the earth’s average temperature from greenhouse gases—
5(c) solar energy—
6(a) 1,120 trees7% of 16,000
7(c) 3,406 units2,600 × 131%
8(a) 10 factories3,700 ÷ 340, rounded down
9The total planetary inheritance: all biotic and abiotic resources and their interactions.—
10(a) thinning of the ozone layer in the stratosphere (b) meeting present needs without harming future generations’ ability to meet theirs—
11(a) non-renewable (b) non-renewable—
12(a) turn cattle dung into fuel, leaving slurry as fertiliser (b) makes electricity from wind without pollution—
13The Central Pollution Control Board was set up, by 9 years1983 − 1974
14187,100 trees; no, extraction is more than regeneration190,000 + 19,000 − 21,900
155,400 kWh; it works without grid lines and causes no pollution10 × 6 × 90
1619,500 kg a month; 237,250 kg a year130 × 5 × 30; × 365
17It supplies renewable and non-renewable resources, absorbs wastes, sustains life through biodiversity, and offers aesthetic services; overuse of the first two threatens the third.—
18(a) uses neem, mixed cropping and natural predators against pests (b) makes electricity from wind without pollution (c) turns organic waste into compost, often with earthworms—
19(a) 15,000 (b) 12,300 (c) 88,500 (d) renewable resources must not be extracted faster than they regenerate10% of 150,000; 27,300 − 15,000; 150,000 − 5 × 12,300
20(a) the Central Pollution Control Board was set up; the UN set its 17 Sustainable Development Goals; the Sustainable Development Goals are to be met (b) 56 years (c) Answers will vary; see the chapter.—